I completely missed L.A. Witch's album DOGGOD, released earlier this year. Another dark, hazy 2:00 AM corridor into desert landscapes and haunted urban derelicts, "I Hunt You Prey" is probably my favorite track (so far) and a great example of what I love about this band.
You can check L.A. Witch out on their Bandcamp HERE.
Watch:
Just a note that my Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2025 is dropping tomorrow. I figured I'd give a heads up since I have moved to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule. We're also recording our Top Five Horror for The Horror Vision this week, so that will go up next Monday, January 5th. And because I don't want to just add some adverts here without giving something of substance in the 'now,' let me tell you that my favorite movie of the year - by far - was Ari Aster's Eddington.
This one is just a powerhouse, a well-deserved magnifying glass for Western Society that was equally frightening, cringe-inducing and hysterical. Even the first of my two theatrical viewings was my most interesting theatrical experience this year, as my nonstop laughter at how stupid most of the people in the movie are was apparently briefly misconstrued as being at the expense of the concept, "Black Lives Matter." Things stood on the head of a pin in the theatre briefly that night, but eventually the other person recognized that I was actually laughing at how stupid some white people are when faced with questions of race, and they subsequently added their own laughter to augment mine.
Read:
Mirrors fascinate me. Specifically, the occult connotations, associations and mythology behind them. So it was with little hesitation that I ordered a copy of Hellebore Magazine's issue #14, The Mirror Issue:
Of particular note in this issue are Elizabeth Dearnley's essay on Dark Doubles and Sam George's The Vampire's Lost Reflection, the latter dealing with the "no-shadow" "no-reflection" particulars of Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula and the eerie similar mechanisms it shares with Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey, published 7 years before.
Playlist:
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
L.A. Witch - Eponymous
Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound
L.A. Witch - DOGGOD
The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses
Dreamkid - Daggers
Arcade Fire - Everything Now
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Ghost - Impera
Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem
Loathe - I Let It in and It Took Everything
Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services
INXS - Kick
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Give the People What They Want
Isaac Hayes - The Isaac Hayes Movement
The Boys Choir of Vienna - Voices & Bells of Christmas Around the World
Robert Rheims - Merry Christmas in Carols
Phil Collins - Face Value
Ella Fitzgerald - The Best of Ella Fitzgerald Vol. II
Metallica - Kill 'Em All
Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert 50
Drug Church - Prude
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XV: The Devil
• Ten of Cups
• XI: Justice
One of the elements Grimm's Devil card gives me in this deck is influence. C'mon - a stoner chick with a vest sewn up with patches? What's that if not influence? The music I love - especially what I love enough to put on a jacket - is one of the major influences of my life. Combine that with the Ten's base of Malkuth - Earth, our primary realm - applied to the emotional pull of Cups I'm picking up a context of working from a strong emotional base (music). XI: Justice - known in the Thoth Deck as Lust - suggests yearning, but also, a nod toward cause and effect. If you call upon it, be prepared for it to answer. Whatever that "it" might be.
